Smoke Signals 7
DECEMBER 1, 2013
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About 150 attend all
day event to learn about
Grand Ronde's past
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
Tribal Historian Dr. David Lewis
was pleased as he looked out on an
almost full Tribal Community Cen
ter, which hosted the first Tribal
History Conference on Thursday,
Nov. 14.
About 150 people invested an
eight-hour day to learn about Grand
Ronde Tribal history after hearing
about the conference through e
mail, word-of-mouth or seeing an
nouncements in Smoke Signals and
on Facebook.
"I am humbled by the response,"
Lewis said. "It tells me that this is
needed."
The all-day conference was bro
ken into six sessions with the
morning events concentrating on
internal Tribal historical efforts
and the afternoon presentations
featuring historians talking about
research into Oregon's
Native American history
that relates to Grand
Ronde.
The conference start
ed promptly at 9 a.m.
with an invocation from
Tribal Elder and former
longtime Tribal Chair
Kathryn Harrison and
a drum featuring Tribal
members and employees
Bobby Mercier, Travis
Stewart and Jordan Mer
cier. Tribal Council Vice
Chair Jack Giffen Jr.
welcomed conference attendees.
"We've come a long way from our
2.5-acre cemetery," Giffen said as
he thanked the Tribe's Land and
Culture staff for their efforts in
putting on the History Conference.
"They have a huge mountain to
climb because of the 28 Tribes and
Bands that make up the Tribe,"
he said.
Tribal Culture Committee Vice
Chair Marcus Gibbons also ac
knowledged how difficult it is for
Tribal Land and Culture employ
ees to incorporate every Tribe and
Band into their thinking as they
research Tribal history and plan
events.
Lewis, who very early on started
referring to the well-attended con
ference as the "first annual," said
the event would help remedy the
fact that the histories of Oregon's
Tribes have not been properly
documented.
Or, as one presenter said later, it
will help present historical infor
mation from a Tribal perspective
and maybe prompt a "re-appreciation"
of what occurred.
The first morning session fea
tured Dr. Margaret Mathewson, a
longtime contractor with the Grand
Ronde Tribe, discuss the Grand
Ronde Basketry Map, which gives
an overview of traditional basketry
in the region. "It's not a dead tradi
tion," Mathewson said about Native
basketry. "It's a living, real, real
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Photos by Michelle Alaimo
Dr. Margaret Mathewson, a contractor with the Tribe, talks about the Grand
Ronde Basketry Map during the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Tribal
History Conference held in the Tribal Community Center on Thursday, Nov. 1 4.
Tribal Historian Dr.
David Lewis was
the host of the first
annual Confederated
Tribes of Grand
Ronde Tribal History
Conference held in
the Tribal Community
Center on Thursday,
Nov. 14.
the old Grand Ronde
Reservation using
Louis Kenoyer's
autobiography of a
Tualatin and their efforts to trans
late it from the Tualatin Kalapuya
language.
After lunch, Dr. Stephen Dow
Beckham talked about the failure of
the Oregon Coast Reservation plan,
Dr. Robert Boyd from Portland State
University discussed the visual
record of Native Americans in the
Portland Basin before 1855 and Dr.
R. Scott Byram gave a presentation
on the Western Oregon Klickitats,
centering on the years 1830-55.
The final session featured Dr.
Dan Boxberger, professor and chair
of the Anthropology Department at
Western Washington University,
talk about the 22 unratified treaties
signed by Native American Tribes
and Bands between 1850-55.
Boxberger said that antecedent
Grand Ronde Tribes and Bands
were party to at least 19 of the 22
tradition."
As evidence, Tribal Elder and
master weaver Connie Graves
talked about her almost three
decades of basket weaving that
started when she attended a class
in Aloha. "I found the thing I was
supposed to do," she said. "It was
something that I had to do."
Graves passes on that knowl
edge by teaching a weekly basket
weaving class at the Elders' Activ
ity Center from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Tuesdays.
"We are continuing to educate
Tribal members and the commu
nity around us," Graves said.
Tribal Cultural Education Spe
cialist Bobby Mercier also talked
about how the Tribe is creating
areas to harvest Native material,
such as juncus, so that Tribal mem
bers can use traditional materials
in weaving modern-day baskets.
Also during the morning ses
sions, Tribal Archaeologist Briece
Edwards discussed the Tribal
Cultural Landscape Project, which
helped the Tribe determine its cul
tural connections to places in its
ceded lands, and Tribal Compliance
Technician Jordan Mercier briefed
attendees on the sacred Chankal
cultural site near Salem.
The final morning session fea
tured Tribal researcher and con
sultant Dr. Henry Zenk and Jedd
Schrock discussing the daily life of
unratified treaties, as well as the
seven ratified treaties that were ne
gotiated between 1853 and 1855.
Eventually, Boxberger said, his
research, which will include tran
scriptions of the unratified and
ratified treaties, will become a
two-volume set that will be posted
on the Grand Ronde Tribal Web
site for use by the membership and
other researchers.
Nora Pederson, a doctoral candi
date from the University of Alberta,
closed out the conference, talking
about "Everyday Indigeneity in
Western Oregon." She discussed
how Grand Ronde transformed into
a timber town in the early part of
the 20th century and how Tribal
members melded western lifestyles
with traditional ways in their day-to-day
living during that period.
Conference attendees included
Tribal Council members Toby Mc
Clary and Jon A. George, as well
as Tribal General Manager Mark
Johnston, Attorney Rob Greene,
Planner Rick George and Ceded
Lands Manager Mike Karnosh.
Tribal members who attended
part or all of the conference in
cluded Delores Parmenter, Reina
Nelson, Wink Soderberg, Debi An
derson and Greg Archuleta, among
others.
Other attendees represented Wil
lamette National Forest, the Army
Corps of Engineers, the University
of Oregon, Oregon State Univer
sity, the Oregon Historical Society,
Willamette Heritage Center, the
Oregon Geographic Names Board
and the Willamette Falls Heritage
Area Coalition.
'The project helps raise the profile
of the Tribe about the importance
of our efforts over the past 10 years
as we have worked to develop our
historic resources," said Land and
Culture Manager Jan Looking Wolf
Reibach in an e-mail the day after
the conference. "Participants heard
that we are writing the Tribe's
history and our work will serve to
more accurately relay the Tribe's
heritage to the regional and even
national communities."
Reibach said next year's event
might expand to a two-day Culture
Summit with the History Confer
ence taking up one of those days.
Lewis thanked Land and Culture
employees Julie Brown, Veronica
Montano, Robert Ashman and
Sequoia Raya, who assisted in put
ting on the History Conference, and
acknowledged the help of Greene
and Public Affairs Director Siobhan
Taylor in getting the idea off the
ground.
VoDuntteeirs wainttedl
The Tina Miller Community Center Thrift Store, 110 B. St., Wil
lamina, helps fund the after-school and weekend youth community
center located in the old Willamina High School gym. The thrift store is
seeking volunteers who can help run the store, in addition to donated
items and customers. The store accepts clothes, books, knickknacks,
etc., as donations. It is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Satur
day and closed Sunday and Monday. Donations also can be left at the
Wildwood Hotel and Restaurant in Willamina. For more information
on volunteering, call 503-876-7897. The youth center and thrift store
are nonprofit and 100 percent self-sustaining and volunteer-run. B